Sunday, November 12, 2006

Sinclair Micromatic

I'm unleashed now! Where can I start...well here's a starter.

Back in 1969 I went to Shudhill in Manchester to find a Christmas present with my Dad. We walked around this incredible area of Manchester where every shop was selling new and used electronic stuff. Literally buckets of components and ex gov. stuff! One of my favourite places was Newcross Radio just around the corner from Shudhill. An Aladdin's cave of ex. gov. radio gear piled to the roof!

At the end of the day I decided to choose a Sinclair Micromatic AM Radio Kit. My Dad bought it for me and put it away for Christmas. At Christmas I built this tiny radio with a soldering iron that was much too big and almost made a complete mess out it! The radio worked perfectly, tiny battery and earphone, the quality was superb.

When I went back to school after Christmas I took it with me every day and carefully wired the earphone lead through my blazer with the Micromatic in my pocket, I could listen to Radio 1 all day long. I had long hair at the time you understand, so no teacher could see the wires! Great for triple period Tech. Drawing lesson on Friday afternoons, trouble was that I had to sit near a window to get the best reception.